"The Czech Republic’s attention magnet has a name: Vaclav Klaus. As he happened to be re-elected not long ago, the Czechs got their piece of attention, too." - NEWS

You are visitor No. 414,583 and counting. Thank you for visiting and leaving your comments in the comment sections below. Now what exactly are the Vaclav Klaus Climate Joke Awards, you want to know? Or who is Vaclav Klaus and why is he being singled out here and so honored with his name on these satirical yet serious awards?

Aha, you see, Václav Klaus [pronounced 'va : tslaf 'klaus] is the honorable and distinguished president of the Czech Republic who is currently into his second 5-year term, so this awards blog has a long shelf life, at least for the next 5 years. But this awards blog is not about the good country of the Czech Republic, who citizens are good honest people who know a thing or two about global warming and climate change. No, this awards blog is named after Vaclav Klaus because he recently told a reporter for the Associated Press in New York City during the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change (sic) sponsored by the Heartland Insitute (sic) funded in part by the oil industry (no sic here), and this man, this human being, this leader of a country in Europe, he told the AP reporter and we quote his now infamous words:

"Climate is just a joke", he told the AP. Instead of worrying about global warming, he went on, people should just go about their business and realize that any warming is just part of the natural process. [Associated Press report, March 5, 2008]

There's more of the quote here: "I am afraid that global warming alarmists are tyring to kill the freedom of people and prosperity," Klaus reportedly told the reporter in the report reported in newspapers worldwide that day.

So (stupid drum roll here), these newly-constituted Vaclav Klaus Climate Joke Awards will be given out through the year, and through out the years, any day of the week will do, just send in your nominations and we will clear them with the awards committee, and these awards will be given out to people espouse very stupid notions about the very real reality of global warming and the possible impact it may have on future generations of Earthlings (include the human species).

THEREFORE it is hereby instituted the very first Vaclav Klaus Climate Joke Award goes to:

VACLAV KLAUS, president of the Czech Republic, for his stupid comments to the Associated Press in New York City in March of the year 4,000,000,008 (that's billon as in Four Billion and Eight, Cosmic Time).

PRIZE NUMBER TWO goes to:BILL GRAY, another Heartland conference naysayer, according to the AP, a hurricane specialist from Colorado State Universtiy, who gave a talk entitled "We Are Not In A Climate Crisis". [Actually, the talk was titled "We Are In A Meeting Room in a Hotel in Manhattan" but the AP did not report that in a sidebar.]

Dr Gray, the holder of a PH.D., went on to tell the AP reporter: "It's sort of like the field of meteorology and climatology's been hijacked by these modelers that have come along and said these things," said Gray, who said recent warming was a blip in "a recent spate of Ice Ages coming and going."

PRIZE NUMBER THREE goes to:

JOSEPH BAST, president of the Heartland Institute, whose unshaven face bear[d]s a very similar resemblance to the president of another country on this Earth -- no, not the Czech Republic, but go head and guess! -- and who told the AP that same day:

"Some of the scientists here believe we are entering into a cooling period, and that's just based on well-known solar cycles,» Heartland's president, Joseph Bast, told the AP. He said the conference showed that, despite what "Al Gore and a bunch of other people» might say, there is no scientific consensus on global warming."

PRIZE NUMBER FOUR:BJORN LUNDBORG:The other day Bjorn Lundborg was (fittingly) on the Colbert Report, and he said: "Global warming is here. Relax and enjoy it. More people die of cold every hear than from heat waves." (reported by Mike Roddy on Dot Earth)

So there you have it, the first three awardees of the International Vaclav Klaus Climate Joke Awards. YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF HONOREES (with quotes from their comments in the media, with references, please, so we can fact-czech everything here) may be sent in to the comments section below, with your name listed or anonymously. Please, no SPAM.

Please list the name of your nominee, his or her position or affiliation, and the exact quote of what he or she said, and a citation reference to prove that he or she indeed said that, or was quoted as saying it. Fact-czechers are on stand by!

DISCLAIMER:

Naming these awards after Vaclav Klaus -- the honorable, well-educated and distinguised president of the Czech Republic, who grew up in the upper-middle class residential Vinohrady neighborhood of Prague and graduated from the University of Economics in Prague in 1963 and also spent some time at Cornell University in the United States -- is not meant in any way to disparage the genuine humanity and good intentions of Mr Klaus, who despite his views on climate change, is, in the estimation of this blog, a fine and upstanding citizen of Planet Earth, with or without a climate crisis on its hands. We like the man, and we love his country. Kafka would be proud of these awards, we are sure!